Line Vautrin is no stranger to this blog. ‘The Poetess of Metal’, so named by American Vogue in 1948, was the recipient of a main feature on A-Gent of Stylemore than a year ago, and his appreciation and admiration for her art has not dwindled ever since. The French artist has had a resurgence on the antiques market in the last few years and her pieces have now become highly coveted collectibles selling for non-negligible prices. It is not unusual for her iconic mirrors, rebus boxes and jewels to make an appearance at discerning fairs and sales. French dealer Jean-David Botella was showing some of his treasured pieces at PAD London a couple of months ago and the Christie’s auction of The Collection of David Collins offered some mirrors and rebus boxes that the designer so much loved.

The content of today’s feature could not therefore be more timely. Building on the strength of online auctions in 2013 and 2014, Christie’s 20/21 Design department is delighted to present an exclusive online auction of works by the renowned ‘Poetess of Metal’, Line Vautrin. A celebrated designer whose work epitomises chic Parisian style, Vautrin remains one of the key figures in the evolution of 20th century jewellery design. Featuring exquisite jewellery, bijoux boxes and stunning versions of Vautrin’s most famous design, the iconic sunburst mirror, this sale offers new enthusiasts and established collectors alike a unique opportunity to acquire important pieces. Estimates range from £200 to £35,000.

A-Gent of Style has written on the blog a couple of special features about his love affair for Gabriella Crespi, extolling the talents of the famous Milanese designer, artist and sculptress.

In two weeks’ time, a rare and seminal event will take place in Paris for any collector and admirer of Gabriella Crespi. French auction house PIASA is offering the auction GABRIELLA CRESPI, Timeless with a selection of the most important pieces created by the designer, artist, socialite & fashion muse who has left an indelible mark on 20th century Italian design with her inimitable taste Italian high-end design.

– Auction –

November 26, 2014 – 6pm

PIASA, 118 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris

– Viewing –

November 21, from 10am to 7pm November 22, from 11am to 7pm November 24, from 11am to 7pm November 25, from 10am to 7pm November 26, from 10am to 1pm

All of Crespi’s designs place as much importance on aesthetics as on functionality, or even multi-functionality: coffee-tables are raised in height, bookcases are transformed into partitions, chairs turn into beds. A fine example is provided by her ingenious, twin-opening Mr-Mme commode (€20,000-30,000). Other sale highlights include a bamboo and brass Fungo lamp from her Rising Sun series (est. €5,000-7,000), and her 1976 Tavolo Scultura coffee table (est. €20,000-30,000).

She was born in 1922 and grew up in Tuscany, near Florence, before studying architecture at the Politecnico in Milan, where she discovered Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright. She married into one of Italy’s wealthiest families, who owned the Corriere della Sera and a textiles empire. From Rome and Milan she hired the finest craftsmen to produce her designs. Most of her works were produced in limited editions and have been rare and highly sought-after since the 1970s – and are all the more so today. Her designs are rare and were mostly the result of special commissions. Several leading personalities were passionately enthusiastic about her work, including Elizabeth Arden, Thomas Hoving (former head of New York’s Metropolitan Museum), Greek shipping magnate Georges Livanos, Princess Grace, Gunther Sachs and the Shah of Iran.

Gabriella Crespi has always conveyed an art de vivre in tune with her times, full of freedom and pioneering ‘bohemian-chic’: a mix of 1970s aspiration and Italian tradition.

Although her style goes perfectly with materials like wood, bamboo, mirror and plexiglas, Gabriella Crespi’s most characteristic designs are in metal – notably brass. The convertible, three-part dining-table, from her celebrated Yang Yin series designed in 1979, is a perfect blend of brass and lacquered wood (est. €20,000-30,000).

Other sale highlights include a bamboo and brass Fungo lamp from her Rising Sun series (est. €5,000-7,000), and her 1976 Tavolo Scultura coffee table (est. €20,000-30,000). Crespi also designed a collection of sculpted animals in the purest tradition of de luxe Italian metalwork, embellished with eggs made from Murano glass or, in the case of her elegant, hand-chased silver plated Ostrich, with a veritable ostrich egg (est. €2,500-3,000).

At the height of her fame, Crespi had two showrooms, one on Milan’s Via Montenapoleone, and the second one in the former Palazzo Cenci in Rome, where her furniture was set off against spectacular frescoes of Umbrian landscapes. But, in 1987, she decided to close her company and devote herself to spirituality: she would continue to spend several months each year in the most remote regions of India into her eighties. Back in Italy Gabriella Crespi remains a respected fount of inspiration, and Milan paid tribute to her with the exhibition Il Segno e lo Spirito at the Palazzo Reale in 2011: a journey through the languages of contemporary expression via Gabriella Crespi’s work and artistic output.

To mark the Gabriella Crespi sale, PIASA will be publishing Timeless – a monograph of her work by Anne Bony, authoress of numerous books on Design, retracing the career of the Italian Designer and, over and beyond her career, outlining her inspiration, spirit and style. Books published alongside major themed sales by PIASA Editions will offer a powerful record of 20th and 21st century creativity.

Alongside the auction The Collection of David Collins, reviewed here last week, at 1pm today at Christie’s, the London sales of 20/21 DESIGN will include an inaugural Evening Sale in King Street at 6pm. The sale will present a varied selection of luxury designer furniture of Post War and Contemporary Design, complemented by Pre-War avant-garde works, by the main proponents of 20th and 21st Century Design from Italy, France, Brazil, Scandinavia as well as an Important Private collection of mid-century French design featuring works by Charlotte Perriand, such as the ‘Mexique’ cabinet, circa 1953, and by Jean Royère, Jean Prouvé and André Arbus.

The Evening Auction features a selection of mid-century design from an important private collection featuring furniture by André Arbus, Jean Royère, Jean Prouvé and Charlotte Perriand.

NORDIC DESIGN:

The Evening Auction also features a strong group of works by leading Swedish, Finnish and Danish designers. These include a desk set from the 1970s, comprising two trays, a pen holder, a ruler, a letter opener and a magnifying glass by Henning Koppel for Gerog Jensen as well as a rare sofa produced by Danish architect Philip Arctander in 1949-1950. Further highlights from the Nordic section include a pair of ‘Mix’ club chairs, model ‘4396’, designed in 1931 by Kaare Klint, who is acknowledged as the founding father of Danish Modernism.

BRAZILIAN DESIGN

The auction will also offer a selection of Brazilian design, which rarely appears in auction in Europe, and will feature works by the Campana Brothers, Oscar Niemeyer and José Zanine Caldas. The highlight of the group is a rare and early work , the Peixe bench (Estimate £80,000 – 120,000), created in 1989 by Humberto and Fernando Campana and presented by them as part of their Desconfortável (uncomfortable) collection of furniture at the Nucleon 8 Gallery in São Paulo.

CONTEMPORARY GLASS BY YOICHI OHIRA

A selection of works by renowned contemporary glass designer Yoichi Ohira have been carefully selected by a private collector in Milan: Mrs. Norma Cortellini. Ohira’s understanding for the tradition and history of glassmaking in Murano, combined with his distinct imagination and Far Eastern aesthetic, situates him as one of the most original and skilled glassmakers. Mrs. Cortellini collected these pieces with enthusiasm and an acute understanding of Ohira’s sensibility and skills. Ohira conveys the tensions between transparency and opacity, interior and exterior through the expert use of a vast array of techniques.

ITALIAN AVANT-GARDE

Highlights from the Italian Avant-garde section of the sale include a significant group of vessels and vases by Ettore Sottsass, as well as an early ‘Poltrona di Proust’ armchair, designed in 1978 by Alessandro Mendini, this example executed early 1980s.